Jeb Bush to Ted Cruz: ‘Have a little bit of self-restraint’

Seasoned Republican Jeb Bush, the former Governor of Florida, has some advice for the freshman Republican senator from Texas.

“Have a little bit of self-restraint,” Bush suggested to Sen. Ted Cruz in a Sunday interview with ABC. “It might actually be a politically—a better approach to see the massive dysfunction.”

Over the weekend, Cruz continued to condemn Senate Republicans for not supporting the House’s ploy to defund Obamacare—a legislative tactic that never could have overcome the president’s veto threat—and promised to do everything he can to get in the way of the president’s healthcare law.

“It was a mistake to focus on something that couldn’t be achieved,” Bush said of tying government funding to the funding of Obamacare in rhetoric, though the majority of Obamacare’s funding was automatic and not at Congress’ discretion.

“I think the best way to repeal Obamacare is to have an alternative; we never hear the alternative,” Bush said. “We could do this in a much lower cost with improved quality based on our principles, free market principles…and show how Obamacare, flawed to its core, doesn’t work.”

Bush added that the secondary debate over whether to raise the debt ceiling would make the country appear “untrustworthy.”

“Well, you have to pay your obligations,” he said.“That has implications, not just for us, a slowdown of economic activity, it has implications in the world because people have to count on the United States.”

On Thursday, Bush reminded the Morning Joe panel that while the GOP is suffering in D.C., they’re thriving outside of it.